Chapter 10

I finished my hike early on that Sunday morning. I felt pretty good about everything. I had spent some time with Thia and Jon the night before I had taken them out to dinner and a movie. In so doing I had fulfilled my obligations before leaving Triboro. I was free to go to Virginia searching for Lillian Ritter with a clear conscience.

Thia dropped me at the Enterprise rent a car outlet in Triboro. I rented a Ford Mustang by the day. I didn’t expect it to be more than a couple of days, so I passed on all the package deals. I left from the enterprise store front and drove straight to the address the Geek provided. It was only a couple of hours past lunch when I pulled the Mustang onto the grass lawn of Rose’s rural home. It was rural, but still inside the city limits of Independence Virginia.

“Hello,” I said to the young woman who came to the door. “My name is Ed Rogers, and I run a company called Rogers Research. I was hired to contact your cousin Rose. Could I ask you a couple of questions concerning her whereabouts?”

“I’m sorry, I haven’t heard from her in years,” the young woman said.

“That isn’t going to fly Lillian. Do you know a Timothy Angel?” I asked.

“I’m telling you that you have the wrong person,” she said.

“Rose, you have done nothing wrong. I can either call this Tim Angel and give him this address, or I can tell him I didn’t find you and give you time to get lost again,” I said. “If Timothy Angel is the one you are running from. I can lead him astray long enough for you to move on somewhere. If the government helped you to disappear, they might keep him away from you.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” she asked.

I don’t much like bullies. If you think running is best, I want to give you a chance to do that. If you want to come back and testify against whoever it was, I’ll try to keep you safe. That decision is totally up to you,” I said.

“Mr. Rogers I’m afraid I just put your life in danger. That man Timothy Angel is the man who threatened me, and my family. Now that he know about me, you will be forced to tell him where I am.” She said.

“Do you have a plan B?” I asked. “Somewhere you could run if thing go wrong. Don’t tell me where. Just tell me if you have a place to go.”

“Yes, I have a place to go,” she replied.

“Do you need to be here tomorrow to get your money” I asked.

“Yes,”she said.

“Okay, I will stay gone until tomorrow at noon. Then I will go back home and start laying a false trail leading Angel to hell and back. So start packing,” I said.

“Where are you going to stay tonight?” she asked.

“Probably a motel in Galax.” I suggested.

“Stay here. I would feel much better with you here,” she said.

I slept on her sofa in the living room. She made coffee in the morning. I did not tell her what I thought of it.

“Since we aren’t coming back here again, I’m going to run your coffee through the grounds again.” She looked at me like I was crazy, but she didn’t stop me.

As I drank the stronger coffee I said, “If you have the title to your car carry it. Sell the car somewhere in a larger town. Then get a bus or a train to a new place. Next time pick a tombstone that isn’t a family member.”

“I wish you could come with me,” she said.

“Some days, I think that would be a hell of an idea,” I said. I gave her an all day head start then drove home and to the rental car agency. I settled the bill then tossed it into the trash can. I wouldn’t be giving Timothy an easy lead to follow.

I walked back to the car wash and settled in. I sent the Geek a message ‘forget you know me for a while’.

Then I called Angel after my hike on Tuesday morning. “Turns out the lead was a dead end. I’m returning half your deposit, since I only worked on it two days.”I said into the phone.

“I’m sorry to hear that, maybe we can work together on a script someday,” he suggested.

“Sure anytime, I am always looking for work,” I said and hung up the phone. That fucker had begun to give me the creeps. After the call I cleaned and oiled the Colt. I also switched out the broom handle walking stick for the war club. The fallen Angel might take me down, but I was not going to go down easy, I decided.

Three days later there was a knock on my door. The knock came at noon. “What the hell are you doing here?” I asked.

“I decided I want my life back,” Rose said.

“Well come in. Tell me everything and I’ll try to get you someone to help. Have you ever fired a shotgun?” I asked Before anything else. When she answered in the affirmative. I gave her a one minute rundown on the Mossburg .12 gauge pump. “This will be your bed buddy as long as you stay here.” She just nodded to me.

“Tell me everything you know about Timothy,” I demanded.

“I don’t really know much. He and his brother picked me up at the mall. They had a car and acted cool. I guess I wanted to go along and be cool to. When they took me to a motel, I knew I had screwed up. I asked them to take me back to the mall. They didn’t they kept me in that motel for two days. Then they released me back in the mall. I found a mall policeman, and he called the city policemen. It was in Durham or Raleigh. There was something about jurisdiction, I do remember that.”

“Okay tomorrow I’m going to get a State police officer to come here, then you are going to tell them everything,” I said.

“Will this get you into trouble?” she asked.

“They will make a lot of noise, but nothing will happen to either of us,” I said.

“Good,” she replied.

I called Mica and ask if she could get a patrol car to swing by. I didn’t think I was going to have any trouble, but I would just feel better. I kept the flood light burning all night. The next morning I took Lillian with me on my round the hood hike. I carried the broom handle and allowed her to carry the war hammer.